a travel, style, and lifestyle blog

nature

Can you believe March is nearly over?! It went by so quickly! March was a fun-filled month. It was filled with some emotional highs and definite emotional lows, with a close friend moving all the way across the globe. Also, this month truly kicked off the next couple of months I have ahead, since April, May, and June will be quite hectic. So let’s delve into to the month of March.

Joshua Tree Camping: The month of March started off with a good old camping trip to Joshua Tree… yes, again. I can’t get enough of this place… can’t you tell? My fiance and I went camping with the same group of friends. We spent the days hanging out and enjoying the environment around us and the night exchanging stories around a camp fire. It’s always great starting off the month camping and disconnecting from the real world for a weekend.

Not Saying “Goodbye”, but “See you soon”: One of my good friends from middle school moved to Australia this month for an indefinite amount of time. Her family threw her a going away party and a bunch of us got together to celebrate her new chapter with her. I’m so excited for her to start this new adventure, but at the same time I was sad to see her go. Naturally, I nearly cried… I’m such a baby. But I know that I will see her in the near future. And now that it is so easy to connect with friends across the globe, I know that we will still stay close.

Yosemite National Park: This past weekend, Wesley and I went to visit Yosemite National Park. We have both been before with family, but never have visited it together. We left the LA area early around 6:00 AM and headed out to the National Park. When we entered the park, it still took us almost an hour to get to the valley floor, but it was well worth it. We drove through the tunnel that leads into the valley and my jaw dropped. The view you see instantly takes your breathe away. The shear magnitude of the beauty of Half Dome, El Capitan, and the cascading waterfalls are so picturesque. We did a few hikes within the valley floor and I was in awe of the environment I was immersed in. After a long day of sightseeing we checked into our tent/cabin at Half Dome Village. Since we knew that it was going to be cold at night, we opted for a heated tent… which I highly recommend if you are staying there during Winter… even though it’s already Spring, it was still a bit nippy. Our tent was nice and cozy and just perfect for our stay. We had dinner and the hall within the village and enjoyed the free wifi and just hung out there for the rest of the night. The next day we woke up in the valley floor, which was pretty cool. We had breakfast again in the hall. The nice thing about staying within the National Park was that we could take our time leaving the park and we were able to enjoy the views just a little bit longer. Before we left the park, we did one more small hike to Bridalveil Falls and then we were off and headed back home.

March was a great month and I know that the months are just going to get busier and go by quicker, but I’m not complaining! I’m really excited for the next couple of months. I’ll be sure to keep updating my blog! Thanks for reading and remember to stay curious and keep exploring!

Recently, my boyfriend and I went to check out some National Parks in Colorado and Utah. During our trip we went to 3 National Parks in Colorado and 2 National Parks in Utah. We visited (in order) Rocky National Park, Canyonlands National Park, Arches National Park, Mesa Verde National Park, and Great Sand Dunes National Park. All the parks were so different and unique in their own way. I loved this trip so much!

Also, this year, all National Parks are celebrating the centennial! So go and explore your local National Parks!

Last weekend from January 22nd to January 24th, my boyfriend and I went to camp out in Saline Valley which is located in Death Valley National Park in California. This was the second time we camped out in Death Valley. We really love spending time out there because you can completely disconnect from the real world and enjoy nature’s beauty. Here is a quick video of our time out in Death Valley. Enjoy!

Over Labor Day weekend, my boyfriend and I decided to head out Big Bear to explore the San Bernardino mountains. We arrived in Big Bear at around 9:00 AM to check into our Airbnb and then headed out to the Gold Mountain and Jacoby Trail. The Gold Mountain trail was really fun, but really challenging to do when you go on your own. We hope to go back again. When then headed to the Jacoby Trail which offered great scenic views and a more calmer trail. After, we headed out to the Village in the heart of Big Bear city to have lunch. We explored the downtown area and headed back to our cabin for the rest of the evening.

The next day, we went to check out Snow Summit and did some scenic hiking around the mountain top. To get to Snow Summit, you take the ski lift up and ride it up for about 15 minutes. The ride gives you great views of the lake and Big Bear city. We spent a good part of the late morning there and then headed down to the Village again. We did some souvenir shopping and grabbed some coffee too. Later that night, we went on an evening cruise around the lake and saw a great sunset. After the cruise we went to have a late dinner in downtown. It was a great way to end our short trip in Big Bear.

Big Bear is a great weekend getaway destination and offers a lot of fun outdoor. Till next time! See ya!

This Labor Day weekend I went up to Northern California with my family to visit my sister in San Francisco and to go on a weekend getaway to Bodega Bay. I love the city of San Francisco and I also missed my sister a lot since I hadn’t seen her in a few months, so it’s always nice to go up and see her. The only down side is the drive there. Boo, oh well, whatcha gonna do?

My family arrived up in San Francisco on Friday Night and left for Bodega Bay Saturday morning. The drive was pretty easy, not much traffic. When we got to Bodega Bay we found it to be a quaint fishing village filled with character. During our first day we explored the little city of Bodega Bay. We drove around to the little beaches and viewpoints that the city had to offer. For lunch we found a great crab shack type of place. They apparently had the best crab sandwiches in town and by my surprise they were pretty delicious, I WANT MORE. Anyways, the shack is located near the bay and while eating lunch we were visited by sea lions! This time they were alive, unlike last time. After lunch we went up to a vista point that over looked the ocean and rocky cliffs. Even though the weather was quite cold and cloudy, it was still better than the heat wave we are having in LA. By the end of the night we decided to have dinner at a local restaurant. The experience there was pretty…. interesting to say the least. The servers were all a little off that night and the restaurant was a bit odd as well, I don’t know what it really was, but it was all a bit weird there. After dinner we went to the local convenience store to get dessert and I finally had an It’s-It, which is an ice cream sandwich between to oatmeal cookies, it was so gewwd.

On Sunday we headed over to the Healdsburg in Sonoma to rent bikes to ride around the wine country. The route that the bike rental place was a lot different than what we had anticipated, especially my mom and I. My dad and my sister are really into cycling and own road bikes. The route consisted of rolling hills and cars, the two things my mom and I are not use to. In total I road about a little less than 2o miles and went to 2 wineries. My mom how ever was only able to do less than half than that and went to 1 winery. I think the cars really scared her. I believe that she could have done the ride if it weren’t for the cars, but unfortunately her nerves got the best of her and she couldn’t continue. As for me, after the ride, I was really proud of myself. I didn’t stop as much as I thought I would and I really pushed my self to get over the hills and to not quit. The cars didn’t really scare me, even though I was really careful. The rolling hills for me was the hardest part, I just had to keep telling myself that I could do it and there was going to be a finish line because it felt so endless. That was the first time that I had ridden my bike along a street with no real bike lane. Also, I sort of had to psych myself out for the ride because earlier this year I got into a pretty bad biking accident while doing a river trail ride in Griffith Park where I flew over my handle bars because the turd in front of me stop short. Anyways after that I was a bit scared of riding my bike for a while, but now I’m over it.

Monday was our last day in Northern California. We left Bodega Bay in the morning and took the scenic route on the 1 Freeway towards San Francisco. The sights were beautiful.The road was winding and filled with twist and turns and we were on the edge of cliffs over looking the ocean for most of the part of the ride. We also watched the fog roll into the scenery from the bay. We drove through thick greenery and the road was shadowed by tall trees. It was amazing.

This weekend was a lot of fun and it was nice to have some quality family time, since it’s been a while.

cute place where we had breakfast in San Francisco.me. 🙂colorful chairs at Bodega Harbor Inn